The Aftermath
by Avecia
Summary: Elena continues to help Damon recover from his wolf bite & manages to get him to open up about his life, before & after she came into it. This makes him want to put things right, not just with Elena but everyone he's grown to care for. Post 2x22.
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** The Aftermath

**Disclaimer:** I do not own TVD – I'm just borrowing!

**Rating:** M for language.

**Author's Note:**Ok, I know everyone and their Granny is probably writing their own version of what happened at the end of the show with Damon and Elena. But this is MY ideas of what needs to be tied up. It's only going to be 5-6 chapters long and I've written the first 4. Basically it'll deal with a few loose ends and conversations that I think need to happen, and of course, Damon and Elena will deal with what happened between them.

I've got to thank Rika for being my beta for this. Lord knows she puts up with a lot from me (including receiving 4 chapters in her inbox out of the blue). So she is my star – read her fics!

Also, thank you to Babi and Eve (Babi. and LastDayofMagic) – they inspire me so much with their completely different styles of writing that it makes me feel that my own style can still fit in somewhere within this fandom :)

I'm sorry if anything seems a bit OOC – after writing these characters for almost a year I can't help but still make errors of judgement on their behalf. So anything you don't think is quite right, please let me know with a review.

Other than that, thank you very much for taking the time to read!

x

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><p>'This sucks.'<p>

Elena bit back a growl at hearing him say that for the umpteenth time. Instead she placed the tray with soup (and a tumbler of blood – what a truly gruesome combination) gently on his lap.

'You're recovering from a werewolf bite Damon, and it doesn't help that you're the worst patient in the world.'

It was hardly a surprise that he didn't like being mollycoddled but this was pushing even _her_ limits of patience.

'Well I haven't been a _patient_ for over 146 years so can you blame me? This is ridiculous – you're keeping me a _prisoner_ here; I need to be out there looking for Stefan.'

Elena winced ever so slightly at hearing _his_ name, but she wasn't about to let herself get drawn into those dark thoughts, not with Damon being on the verge of losing it completely.

'No,' she told him forcefully, 'you need to get better first. You're no use to anyone like this and if we're going to find him and Klaus we're going to need you back to one hundred percent fitness.'

'Fine,' was the somewhat petulant reply she received but he still wasn't happy about it...and he wasn't finished his moaning either, '_maybe_ then _this_ time you'll listen to me.'

Elena glared at him which told him he was on his one and only warning. He'd apologised (albeit in a haze of sweat and psychological breakdown) for how he'd handled the whole sacrifice situation and she _had_ forgiven him, but there was no need to rub salt in the wounds, even if this was just a way to vocalize his frustrations with still being not quite back to himself yet.

'Why are you still here anyway? Shouldn't you be off with Bonnie trying to find your boyfriend? Or better yet, spending time with your _own_ brother? You know, the one who died and came back to life? Again.'

Elena busied herself folding some clean bed sheets as a distraction to placing too much thought on what Damon had just said.

'Bonnie tried the locator spell but it won't work and I saw Jeremy this morning while you were asleep. He came over and said he was fine but I think there's something he's not telling me.'

Damon's interest piqued at that.

'So why don't you go be your usual self and annoy the living daylights out of _him_ until _he_ cracks?'

She let out the heavy sigh.

'Because he told me in language that I won't repeat to drop the subject.'

'So you're going to stay here and annoy _me_ instead?'

She pushed the clean sheets onto one of the many shelves in his closet and turned to look at him with a matronly stare.

'I didn't realise my company was that bad – you didn't seem to mind yesterday when you were on your _death_ bed.'

Damon huffed and tried to pull himself up on the bed without dropping the tray on his lap.

'Yeah well, that was _before_ you kissed me and made it ten different kinds of awkward. I was lucid Elena, I _remember_.'

It was almost as if he was telling her that there wasn't _any_ way for him to have that memory erased, not even with an Original's compulsion. But he didn't exactly look thrilled at recalling what had passed between them the previous night. And she would have been quite as happy ignoring the '_kiss'_ situation had he not brought it up.

'Well, in my defence, I thought you were going to die.'

'Oh gee, thanks,' he mumbled, with a shake of his head, 'just what every man needs before descending to the fiery depths of hell...a _pity_ kiss.'

She was done with keeping a check on her own frustrations as her hands flew into the air with an exasperated growl.

'God! Do you need to make everything in your life so melodramatic? The only person who _pities_ you is _yourself_! Now for once in your ridiculously long and inhuman life will you _stop_ acting like a child, _accept_ that you're not dead and just _eat_ your damn chicken soup?'

Damon looked back at her like she was the one who had gone stark raving mad, not him.

'I'm a _vampire_ Elena, chicken soup for the _soul_ is not the answer to all my problems.'

Elena sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed.

'Look, I need you to just focus on getting your strength back. You were so far gone that clearly Klaus' blood will take longer to heal you so please, just let it work whatever magic it has to do and soon you'll be back to your usual sarcastic and impulsive...less _grumpy_ self. But until then can you just let me try to help you and get things back to normal?'

Damon snorted as he pushed his plate of soup and the tumbler of blood away from him on the tray, much to Elena's annoyance.

'Normal? Neither of one of us even _know__s_ what that is anymore. Things are never going to be the same Elena. Not after this.'

Elena wanted to protest, but Damon's quiet sigh and pointed glare fixed her in place for once.

'Elena, you _know_ I'm right so please, just...for _once_ listen to what I actually said and do me the courtesy of not arguing back. Not this time.'

Elena heard the tiredness in his voice and decided against arguing back. She pushed the plate of soup back towards him on the tray.

'Ok...' she replied tentatively, '...but finish your soup and get some rest.'

'Elena, I _don't_ want...'

'Are you going to finish that bowl of soup or do you need me to feed you myself? I can do airplanes with the spoon if you like since you're acting like such a toddler?'

Damon all but growled and grabbed the spoon from her hand, taking a reluctant sip of the salty liquid, before grimacing his visual response at Elena of '_there – are you happy now?_'

Elena smiled almost triumphantly – the first time she'd used those facial muscles in what felt like a year.

'I knew you'd come round. I'll be along the hall if you need me.'

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><p><em>Ok, so there we go. I hope this seems marginally plausible and it's just easing us in. I'm worried that Elena not rushing out to find Stefan is a bit OOC but for me she's still processing a lot of things and what Katherine said to her, about Stefan sacrificing her to save Damon is playing on her mind. In my mind Elena knows that Damon will want to find his brother and she needs him to help her – so she can't be making any rash decisions (let alone her dealing with her own feelings of believing she was going to lose Damon and Uh-oh he's still alive!). Please let me know what you think by leaving a review – how soon the next chapter is posted may depend on it!<em>

_Much Love, Ave x x x_


	2. Chapter 2

**Title:** The Aftermath

**Disclaimer:** I do not own TVD – I'm just borrowing!

**Rating:** M for language.

**Author's Note: **Thank you for all the wonderful reviews so far, I'm trying to figure out how to reply to them all because FF is playing up for me yet again.

But, here is chapter 2 – sorry for the wait! I have been tinkering and changing things all week (bear in mind this was written almost as soon as Season 2 ended). The ending I changed completely as originally it was slightly humorous, but I felt it needed something more so I flipped something we saw in the Season 1 episode 'Friday Night Bites' which I would say is quite obvious, but still, it was nice to write it.

This chapter is actually going un-beta'd for a little change because Rika's been busy with adjusting to her move so I took it easy on her and decided to take a chance on just posting this. If there are any mistakes (grammar, spelling etc) then they are all mine!

A fair few of my readers are awaiting reviews for their own work which I am trying to get through to leaving. I've read every update I've received over the past couple of months so I will try to actually get the time to leave a review very, very soon, I promise.

Finally I would say that I take a fair bit of artistic licence in this chapter with Damon's past, which possibly doesn't really fit in but I did it for a reason which I will explain in my footnotes at the end. I just hope you enjoy my take on it.

Other than that, thank you very much for taking the time to read!

x

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><p>When he woke up again, it was dark outside but he felt decidedly better. The mark on his arm had almost completely faded and the marching band that had been playing encore after encore in his head had finally stopped – that was until he turned over to find Elena on the other side of his bed, reading his copy of Gone With The Wind.<p>

'You have no sense of personal space do you?'

She didn't even look up from the book to acknowledge he was awake.

'That's the pot calling the kettle black, don't you think? Besides, the movie night that I had managed to find a way to look forward to was ruined by your psychotic breakdown in the town square nonetheless, so the very least you can let me do is read the book instead.'

He huffed and pulled himself up to lean against the headboard.

'How long have you been sitting there like a total creeper then?'

'I've been _reading_, not watching you. And as for how long I've been doing that, I'm just up to the part where Melanie gives birth to Beauregard.'

'So, a while then?' he smirked with a yawn.

'Mm-hmm,' she hummed before marking the page and putting the book onto her lap.

'So, how are you feeling then? You definitely look better. Less...' she paused to regard his complexion for a moment, '...pale and sweaty.'

He looked embarrassed, if Damon Salvatore _did_ embarrassed, at the reminder of just how much of a physical state he had been in the previous night.

'Yeah, I'm sorry about that.'

She didn't reply, but shrugged a simple '_that's ok_' which put him a little more at ease. She'd definitely seen him at his very worst. Damon looked around and noticed the clean sheets that Elena had pulled out and placed on top of his dresser, waiting to replace the ones that were currently on his bed that had seen better days.

'You know, when I younger, I didn't often fall ill, but when I did it was usually serious. Anytime I was sick, I would always get a terrible fever and my mother would be forever changing my bed sheets – she drove the house servants into early senile dementia with her constant demands of doing more laundry. I was convinced the maids took it out on me by telling my father when they caught me up to something I wasn't supposed to be doing.'

Elena was surprised at Damon's story – and the fact his mother seemed to be a very hands on mother considering the time and their stature as a family in the town. Usually an ill child was tended to by a nurse or nanny, or so she had thought.

'Your mother took care of you when you were ill?'

He didn't miss the ever so slight note of surprise in her response – and it amused Damon.

'Didn't your mother look after you?' he countered.

It was then that Elena felt suddenly _embarrassed_ under his intense stare, unable to prevent her stammer.

'Well, of course, it's just...you don't talk about your life much back then. I don't think you've ever spoken to me about your mother.'

'What's there to say? She died when I was 10 and I've missed her every day since,' he paused as if he was figuring out the right way to get out what he wanted to say, 'I know I told you it gets easier, and it does, but...it's been over one hundred and fifty years and I _still_ think about her.'

Elena bowed her head in acceptance of what he was saying.

'I know, it's going to take a while to come to terms with..._losing_...' she almost buckled at the idea of even mentioning the people she'd recently lost so Damon leaned over and placed one finger over her mouth, telling her she didn't need to talk about something she wasn't ready for yet. Elena appreciated the gentle gesture, wondering why she was so surprised at _just_ how tender Damon could be. Determined to keep Damon from closing up, giving her nothing but silence to think about what had become of Stefan, she recalled one of her memories from the previous night, taking the risk that it might not be something that Damon wanted to talk about.

'Last night you said I would have liked you back in 1864.'

He grimaced slightly, recalling the memory of his death bed confessions, 'I know – I remember,' he replied tersely.

'What did you mean by that? How were you different back then?'

'Does it matter?'

He looked pained at having the subject brought up but Elena just wanted to make him feel like it was ok to tell her, to remind him that there was nothing he could say that would change how she saw him now.

'Of course it matters Damon, it's a part of you no matter how much you hide behind who you are now.'

He didn't look convinced so she pressed on with her, apparent, suicide mission judging by the dark look on his face.

'Damon, the person you are now thought you deserved to die, but surely the person you were back then must believe you deserve to live? You're the same person Damon, underneath it all. Don't give up on yourself.'

His glare turned from uncertain to downright thunderous – he didn't need to yell at Elena for her to know that was his signal to just shut the hell up and change the subject. But she wasn't about to yield to what Damon wanted – she hadn't in the past and she wasn't about to start now. She was positively convinced that Damon had a complete inability to see the bigger picture and frankly, it pissed her off.

'Don't throw away this chance to be the person you truly are Damon...'

'I told you...'

'...yes I know, you've told me to stop telling you to _be the better man_, and I _have_, but you pretty much told me last night that you once _were_ a better man, before all of this,' she gestured in the air and to nothing in particular, 'you're still _you_ Damon, don't throw all of that away, not after what Stefan gave up for you.'

The mention of his brother and the growl that escaped his lips told her she was treading on shaky ground but she was past the point of caring.

'He obviously remembered the real you and still believed you deserved a chance at life but if you're not prepared to open up and be honest with me like you always have been then I'm not interested in watching you dissolve into self-destruction mode. I already told you that the way you are now is just fine by me so I cannot for the life me understand why you're scared to let me see the real you underneath that hard exterior too.'

She threw the book down on the bed in disgust and attempted to make a suitably dramatic exit from the room that Scarlett herself would have been proud of when he finally spoke up and halted her in her tracks.

'I was a mama's boy, alright? There, are you happy now? My mother brought me up to be sweet and caring, to love openly and look out for my little brother. And look where that got me.'

She turned back to him slowly, wondering if her next choice of words would bite her on her ass.

'Is this where you tell me about why you regret getting involved with Katherine?'

She was relieved when the dark mask on his face seemed to slip enough to allow a roll of his eyes, instead of losing it completely. Apparently, she'd missed the part where that was old news.

'No, I believe I told you everything I felt about my choices regarding _her_ last night before she barged in and ruined our epic moment.'

'You were dying Damon, there's nothing epic about that.'

He stared at her and chose to take a moment to breathe before deciding on what would be best to say next.

'That's not what I'm referring to and you _know_ it.'

His eyebrows spoke the words he didn't and _she_ gave _him_ a look that said she wasn't quite ready to discuss _what she did_, if she ever would be. The hypocrisy of her begging Damon to open up while she was happy to just emotionally shut down about her confused feelings, was not lost on her. She just hoped he wouldn't hang her out to dry for it.

'I assure you this is nothing to do with Katherine. I changed a lot before she ever showed up in Mystic Falls and for very different reasons. In _fact_, there was a girl I fell in love with _years_ before I met that bitch.'

Now that piqued Elena's interest. She'd been stuck in the Boarding House for well over 24 hours with a grumpy Damon – anything that wasn't him moaning about being bed ridden or tip toeing around what happened before his miracle recovery was _progress_.

So with that she sat herself down on the bed again.

'Tell me.'

With some hesitancy, Damon began to speak so quietly she could barely hear him.

'Well, I was your age...' Elena's raised eyebrows were an involuntary reaction and one which he found to be somewhat amusing, '...yes believe it or not, once upon a time I was young, curly haired, rosy cheeked and as ashamed as I might be to admit it...a little prone to the occasional zit. I know, I know. Hard to imagine.'

Elena tried not to dissolve into fits of giggles but it was hard when Damon was looking at her like _that_.

'Anyway, despite all of that, sweet, curly blonde Elizabeth Sullivan, took an interest in me for some reason that looking back I could never understand – I used to tease her a lot and called her Lilibet. Apparently girls don't like nicknames much.'

She could tell by the way he was looking at her but not quite in the eye, that he was recalling fond memories of the girl. It brought a wry smile to her own lips.

'Her family migrated to America when she was four and I knew her since we went to elementary school together – when she turned sixteen I finally noticed how beautiful she was and told her that I thought she might like to spend time with me. I was eighteen and a little cocky, thinking she would fall over herself to take me up on my offer, but she just laughed and told me that I was the one who used to pull her ringlets and make fun of her when she first started school all those years before, but I was five or six, isn't that what boys were supposed to do at that age?'

Elena nodded almost enthusiastically, 'Matt used to pull my pigtails and throw sand over me at school,' she agreed and he rolled his eyes at how primitive boys could be at showing their feelings.

'Well _thankfully_ after making me grovel for nearly three torturous weeks, she forgave me and allowed me to court her. I remember that I was preparing to leave for Princeton, although at the time it was called the College of New Jersey. I had wanted to be an architect or something like that, much to my father's delight for a change.'

She looked surprised and wondered how Damon had spent the past century and a half of his life. Had he ever had a job or pursued a career? She knew he'd been on a college campus, but had presumed it was more to do with drunken sorority girls and not much to do with the curriculum.

'I didn't know.'

'Without wanting to sound bitter about it, you wouldn't. Nobody has ever cared to ask me about what I was like back then, but in your defence, I probably wouldn't have answered truthfully either.'

She nodded in acceptance of the harsh facts. The only person who knew anything about Damon was Stefan – his missing brother.

'So what happened with Elizabeth?'

'Well...I wanted it all – a career, a house, a wife...children. And I wanted it as far away from Mystic Falls and my father as possible. So, I asked Elizabeth to marry me. It was impulsive and selfish of me I suppose, maybe I haven't changed much in that sense, but we fell in love – and I didn't want to leave without her.'

Elena was touched to hear Damon speak so plainly about a time before he was a vampire, and when he had emotional connections to people that were purely based on love and nothing else.

'Oh.'

He smirked, but for once she didn't feel the urge to smack it off his face.

'_Indeed_. However my father was none too pleased, Elizabeth was _not_ from the founding families or really any family with stature in the town. He had his heart set on a union between myself and one of the Ugly Sisters from the Fell family upon my return from College, purely a business arrangement of course, but I told Guiseppe that I would refuse to return home if that was his intentions. Just one of my many disappointments to him I suppose.'

Elena decided not to go into any depth telling Damon that he must have misread his father's attitude towards him – after all, she didn't know the man, but somehow she doubted any parent could have so much disregard for their child and his or her feelings.

'So what did you do?'

'I was all set to leave with Elizabeth in a dramatic moonlight flit – you know me, I never have taken a telling well. Only when I went to meet her on the night we had agreed would be _the_ _night_, it was Guiseppe who was there instead – and he told me he'd allowed my near scandalous association with Elizabeth to continue for long enough and had offered her family money to leave the town. My father was determined to ruin my memory of her by claiming both she and her parents jumped at the chance of the money. But I know deep down she wouldn't have left me – her parents would have given her no choice but to leave.'

'That's awful, how could anybody do that?'

Elena watched him nod in agreement and she realised then that even if he found it near impossible to show her most of the time, Damon was someone capable of understanding what love was, even if sometimes he let the strength of his feelings cloud his judgement.

'Were you heartbroken?'

'Are you?' he responded, all to quickly, 'It's almost the same thing. You love someone and they're taken away from you by someone with their own agenda.'

She lowered her head, understanding that he was referring to Stefan being taken from her. If this was the kind of hurt Damon was once, and maybe still, capable of feeling then she didn't need to answer.

'I was many things Elena, but I was angry above anything else. All I wanted was to be happy. So I left. I had no real way of finding her so reluctantly I went to College if only to escape being anywhere near my father and didn't return until the war began. I think you pretty much know everything from there.'

'You must have gotten over Elizabeth if you were able to fall in love with Katherine.'

'Perhaps, although thinking about it now, and knowing everything I do about her, I was likely more in love with the idea of Katherine, the type of person she was..._what_ she was. I thought my father wouldn't have a chance in hell of taking another girl I loved away from me. Turns out I was wrong about that too in a way. But, I never forgot Elizabeth.'

Elena moved closer to him on the bed, her heart almost breaking for him in the realisation that almost every person he had ever loved had been taken from him, made him feel unworthy or simply deserted him.

And she was the only one who was still there.

She understood exactly then, just _why_ he had been so desperate to keep her alive, desperate enough to force her to drink his blood. It didn't make it right, to almost take the choice away from her, but she understood herself the reasons why she had forgiven him everything the night before – and it was not just because she came so close to losing him. When she forgave him she believed in it, believed her instincts that he deserved it, not just because he was about to take his final breath.

'Has there ever been anyone else? In all those years since?'

The moment she let those words out of her mouth she wished she could suck them all back in as he glowered at her under his eyelashes with the makings of a small smirk at the edges of his mouth.

'I mean, apart from...well, you know.'

She could think of a hundred other things to talk about besides dancing around the level of affection he held for her – why did she want so much to know these intimate things about Damon?

'No, there hasn't been anyone else, present company excepted of course. But, nothing has changed Elena, you know how I feel and maybe understand it a bit better now, but I'm grown up and respectful enough now of what my brother has done for me to leave it at that.'

Elena didn't know how to take his last statement. He was _finally_ respecting her feelings, was content not to push the boundaries of their friendship (which was shaky at best) – the only problem was, now that she'd confronted her own feelings for Damon on a deeper level than she _ever_ had before, and finally _acknowledged_ there was something there which she cared for so deeply that his loss would devastate her, how _could_ he respect her feelings when she didn't even know what they were anymore?

She must have looked lost in her own thoughts as he continued with one last statement before pulling the covers over and bedding himself down for the night.

'I wouldn't dwell on this any longer Elena. I've accepted that we suffer from nothing else other than a fatal incompatibility. And so long as you're still alive, I can live with that.'

Elena didn't say anything in reply and instead she watched as Damon fell asleep. She listened as his breathing slowed and soft snoring sounds began to replace those breaths. She smiled tiredly and got up off the bed, readjusting the covers before moving around to the other side of the bed to pull the covers up over Damon's shoulders.

She paused for a moment to take in the peaceful look on his face, where she could see nothing except the Damon deep down inside that she believed him to be – warm, funny and loyal almost to a fault. She realized that just as much as Damon would do anything for her, to keep her safe, she reciprocated those emotions and it scared her. But it did not terrify her as much as the thought that she almost lost him before he even had a chance to find himself again.

The way the back of her fingers lazily trailed their way down the side of his cheek, from forehead to jaw was almost involuntary, but she felt a familiarity there that gave her comfort. And she knew that she would do anything she could to bring Stefan back home, if not for herself but for his big brother who needed him even more.

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><p><em>Hmm, so there you go. Damon had a bit of history before Katherine breezed her way into town. I decided on this idea to show how Damon had been consistently burned even before she showed up – and that it was part of the reason Damon can't handle losing things he keeps close to his heart and why he reacts the way he does. AND, I wanted Elena to understand this too. She might not agree with Damon's reactions but she understands why he acts that way – in particular I wanted to highlight why she forgave him force feeding her his blood, not <em>just_ because he was dying._

_Does that make ANY sense? Maybe let me know in a review :)_

_Ave x_


	3. Chapter 3

**Title:** The Aftermath

**Disclaimer:** I do not own TVD – I'm just borrowing!

**Rating:** M for language.

**Author's Note:**So here we have chapter 3. Now there is just a little interaction between Damon and Elena in this but I think it's very telling on Damon's part as to where his head it at – which I might explain more in my footnote at the end of the chapter.

I want to thank you all for continuing to read this fic and leaving reviews. I've tried to reply to them all but I'm more than miffed with the changes to recently regarding the review replies function so if I've missed any replies out then I'm sorry but thank you for taking the time to read. And to Kat who I can't reply to, thank you for your wonderful comments so far :)

I was asked if there would be smut in this story – well, I honeslty don't know. To be honest, I doubt it will fit with where I want to take this. But, I am contemplating having the timeline shift a little towards the end which might make it more plausible for Damon and Elena because I don't see them coming together quickly, although that's not to say nothing will happen between them ;)

Also, thank you once again to Rika (ZorayaWindwalker) for beta-ing despite having hardly any time on her hands right now. And to anyone who also reads her stories, I am pestering her right now for an update so I hope that will come soon for you – although I can't speak for her as to how long it will be!

And (this is becoming possibly my longest AN ever) if anyone is interested in reading some Elena/Elijah fic, please read DNA by Eve (LastDayofMagic). It's HOT for a start but she is an incredible writer (I cannot tell you that enough). Give it a go, you might like it!

Other than that, thank you very much for taking the time to read!

x

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><p>Damon woke up the following morning feeling pretty much back to his usual bad-ass self, which is why, when he opened his eyes and sensed someone in the room that was <em>not<em> Elena, he flew out of bed and pinned said person to the nearest wall.

'Why the _fuck_ are you in my bedroom?'

Damon's senses finally returned and just as quick as he went for his throat he released the struggling teenager from his grip.

'Good morning to you too Damon,' he winced in pain, rubbing his chest tenderly, 'in case you didn't already know I was shot less than two days ago.'

'From what I heard you _died_ two days ago – and you still haven't answered me, why the hell are you in _my _bedroom and where is your sister?'

Damon retreated to his closet and pulled on a sweatshirt before turning his TV on to the morning news channel, hoping for any kind of calling card of where Stefan or Klaus might have been and were headed.

'Elena went home to shower and change. She asked me to keep an eye on you in case you needed anything.'

Damon groaned at Elena having drafted Jeremy into her (non) humanitarian charity cause.

'I don't need anybody to play nurse for me Jeremy, I'm _fine_! Now kindly leave me the fuck alone.'

'You're a dick you know that? I took a bullet for you! But now you're back to your usual 'I-don't-give-a-shit' self and I'm the one seeing my dead ex-girlfriends!'

With that Jeremy stormed out of Damon's room and made for the front door of the Boarding House. It took a moment for Damon to process little Gilbert's tirade but thankfully with a burst of his preternatural speed he managed to slam the door shut just as Jeremy had pulled it open.

'Oh no you don't, you don't get to just _leave_ after talking to me like that.'

'Well you wanted me to leave you _the fuck alone_,' mimicked Jeremy who stood firm at the door and refused to be intimidated by the vampire.

'I changed my mind. First of all you're going to tell me exactly how it was my fault that you ended up getting _shot_ because clearly I'm going to have to run damage control when your sister finds out...'

'She already knows,' Jeremy interrupted, fixing him with a glare that told the Vampire that there was a lot he had missed whilst recovering from the wolf bite.

'Well, we're not doing this at my front door,' he shook himself out of his thoughts and pushed Jeremy along the hall into the parlour to sit down –before making his way to the drinks cabinet for a glass of Bourbon.

'Isn't it a little early?'

'As they say, it's 5pm somewhere,' he mumbled before throwing the liquor down his throat, 'now tell me, what the hell happened?'

Jeremy made his own way to the drinks cabinet and reached for the bottle of liquor only to have Damon's firm hand rest on his own, preventing him from taking anything to drink. Jeremy just growled, and using his free hand pulled the neck of his t-shirt down to show Damon the bullet wound which was still healing. Damon took in the sight of a rather tender looking red welt on Jeremy's chest and reluctantly released his grasp, motioning for the teenager to go ahead.

'Well, Ric called me and said you were missing. I found you in the town square looking for Elena. You were in pretty bad shape so I took you into the Grill to keep you out of the way in case you...'

Jeremy hesitated to add '_went on a murderous rampage like Rose_' but Damon rolled his eyes anyway, knowing that was what he was going to say.

'...anyway, I had just managed to get you into the Grill when the Sheriff turned up. I was on the phone with Ric, telling him I'd found you, you were standing in front of me and then you just...well, you disappeared. Next thing I know the Sheriff puts a bullet in _my_ chest instead of yours.'

'Wait a minute, _Liz_ shot you?'

Jeremy nodded and downed his own drink.

'Yeah, and it fucking hurts like a bitch by the way.'

Damon nodded his head in agreement, imagining how it would have felt for the, undoubtedly wooden bullet, to lodge itself in his own chest cavity, having already experienced being shot several times both before and after becoming a vampire. He found it hard to look Jeremy in the eye.

'Shit. Jeremy, I...'

'You don't need to apologize Damon, it's not your fault.'

'No I do and it is, really I'm sorry.'

Damon looked at Elena's little brother and felt the guilt wash over him. That was twice the kid had died because of something he did.

'All that Elena told me was that you had died but that Bonnie had brought you back – I didn't know it was _my_ fault. I was confused as to what Bonnie had to do with bringing you back as you had your ring but now it makes sense. I honestly don't know what I was thinking.'

'You _weren't_ thinking, but I know you didn't do it on purpose. And Elena knows that too.'

Damon wearily shook his head, unconvinced.

'I'm going to need to have a talk with Caroline...and Liz.'

This immediately put Jeremy back on edge.

'Wait a minute, Liz isn't exactly on my list of favourite people in the world right now but maybe you should let Caroline handle it. If you do anything to her mother...'

Damon smirked and cut Jeremy's warning off mid-sentence.

'I'm not going to kill the Sheriff, Jeremy,' although every instinct within Damon wanted revenge, her still had a soft spot for Liz Forbes, 'but she knows about us, _all_ of us, and that is a conversation that _needs_ to happen.'

Jeremy let out a breath of relief that Damon wasn't about to go break the Sheriff's neck for what she did. Everyone had enough to deal with, without adding to the situation.

'So what exactly did you mean by seeing _dead _people?'

Jeremy groaned and gulped down the rest of his drink with a tired looking shake of the head.

'Dead _girlfriends_,' he corrected, 'and it's exactly what I said. Anna and Vicki are, well, I don't even know what's going on – but I can see them.'

Damon was speechless, for once.

'There's no need to stare at me like that, I'm perfectly aware of how bizarre it sounds but it's nowhere near as crazy as it is seeing _them_ standing at the foot of your bed when you're trying to get to sleep after trying to convince yourself that your mind's playing tricks on you.'

'Ok, do you have any idea why they're...' Damon struggled to get his next words out without bursting into uncontrollable laughter at just how ridiculous the whole thing sounded, '..._haunting_ you?'

Jeremy glared at the vampire opposite of him.

'If I had any idea don't you think I would have told you?'

Damon nodded in acceptance that his question was probably erring on the side of pointless.

'Ok, well, you died and came back to life so I think you need to be having a talk with Rita Repulsa about using you as her guinea pig for some crazy ass resuscitation spell. She probably knows more about it than she's letting on.'

'She would have told me if she knew this would happen. And I don't want anyone to know – they'll think I'm going crazy.'

'Jeremy, your sole group of friends consist of vampires, a vampire _hunter_, a witch and debatably a werewolf, which we might need to be having words with considering his most recent choice of chew toy – do you honestly think this is as far-fetched as you think it is? Trust me, they won't think you're crazy. Although Bonnie might be a little jealous.'

Jeremy slammed his glass down on the table and practically growled at Damon, who was looking rather pleased with himself.

'You're not fucking helping. This is serious.'

Damon's face had morphed back into his normal glower.

'I know it is Jeremy, which is why you need to have a talk with The Witch and ask her what the hell was involved in that spell. Elena doesn't need to be worrying anymore about you right now than she already is. She knows something is up with you – well, more than normal anyway.'

'Don't you think I _know_ that? It's like she's constantly waiting for me to start painting my nails and smoking pot again.'

'Not a good look man,' Damon prompted, 'I tried the emo-grunge thing in the nineties, what a waste of a decade.'

Jeremy looked at Damon in a confused manner and decided not to make a witty comeback for fear of dying twice in the space of two days. Instead, he headed towards the door.

'Don't tell anyone please, not yet. You owe me Damon.'

'I don't owe anyone Jeremy,' Damon growled, 'but...I won't say a word. Just promise me when you decide to tell Bonnie about the side effects of her spell, that I can be there to witness the look on that judgy face of hers.'

'Fuck off!' was the last thing out of Jeremy's mouth before slamming the door to the Boarding House, leaving Damon alone and feeling that little bit more determined to step up and make sure Elena knew how sorry he was for everything that had happened.

* * *

><p>Elena walked through the front door of the Boarding House and immediately sought out Damon who was lounging in the library listening to the familiar sound of Mumford and Sons, of all things.<p>

'Aren't libraries meant to be peaceful and quiet?'

'It was peaceful right up until you walked in,' he mumbled, his foot tapping away to the music as he sat scouring the local news sites on his laptop for any ideas of where his brother could be.

Elena put her bag down and sat opposite him.

'You maybe want to listen to something a little less...depressing?'

He smirked and turned the music, blaring from the computer, down.

'Well maybe I like depressing.'

'_No_,' she countered, taking a breath before continuing her argument, '_Stefan_, likes this band, _you_ don't; _you_ like to dance. You like to let go, wear leather pants and dance like a crazy person. I remember the decade dance, before Klaus showed up _wearing_ Alaric.'

Damon grinned a little, recalling his near perfect attempt at go-go dancing.

'That's true I suppose, but today doesn't really feel like a day to let loose considering everything that's happened, does it?'

She stared back at him and reluctantly agreed with a nod of her head.

'I guess you're right.'

She stood up and made for the stairs.

'Where are you going?' he asked following quickly behind her.

'I'm going to pack up my things.'

He looked confused and uttered a mildly petulant, 'why?'

'Because when I went back to my _actual_ home, I discovered that it's practically falling apart. There's dirty dishes in the sink, a pile of washing that needs to be done, no food in the cupboards – I _need_ to move back home. Jeremy needs me, and I don't want him to be alone. We're lucky that Child Services haven't showed up yet and if I have any chance of keeping Jeremy and I together, I'm going to have to prove I'm capable of taking care of him myself.'

Damon stood there in shock, having never considered the full implications of what would happen to her and Jeremy now that Jenna and John were no longer alive.

'But you're only seventeen Elena, you can't just...'

She cut him off before he could tell her everything she _couldn't_ do.

'Yes Damon, I can – and I'm going to, because I'm not safe here either. The fact that I died must have nullified the need to be invited into this house – how else did Katherine manage to get in?'

Damon had forgotten about that fact and had to admit that Elena was probably right – but he wasn't about to just happily agree with her plan to become sole guardian to Jeremy. She wasn't renowned for making stellar choices when it came to her own well-being let alone her brother's.

'So we'll redo the deeds to the Boarding House!'

His frustration was clear to see and hear but Elena wasn't about to get into any further arguments with him. So, she turned and continued up the stairs, stopping only once to look back at him.

'I'm pleased you're feeling better Damon. Just because I'm moving out doesn't mean I don't care or that you won't see me.'

But Damon was practically in a panic thinking over why she would want to leave instead of moving Jeremy into the Boarding House, even if he would complain about it endlessly.

'Elena you don't have to move out because of me – I thought we had moved on from what happened. You're not safe on your own.'

'Damon,' she turned around and faced him on the stairs, one step up so she was face to face with him, 'this really has nothing to do with us. I just lost my father and my aunt. They were the last connection I have to my family bar Jeremy. I owe it to him to try and keep everything as normal as possible after everything that's happened and that means being in the home we grew up in. That's the only reason I'm moving out – I promise you.'

She put her hand on his shoulder and for the first time that she could remember he didn't visibly flinch as if he had been burned.

'I still need you around Damon, I'm not as brave as I was at the start of all this.'

Damon picked up on the reference to _Little Lion Man_ playing in the background at a low level from the library, and smiled bitter-sweetly.

'You _are_ brave Elena, possibly the bravest person I've ever met.'

Elena squeezed his shoulder lightly before turning to continue up the stairs to pack up her things. She smiled sadly back at him over her own shoulder and disappeared into the upper corridors of the Boarding House. Damon pulled out his cell phone and dialled the number of the only other person he could think of that he wanted to talk to – and he hoped that person would still want to talk to _him_.

'It's me. I think you should come over here, I need to talk to you.'

* * *

><p><em>So there we go. Damon seemed a bit panicked here and I think it's going to start grating on him as to where he and Elena stand, so much so that he will do something in the next chapter that surprised both him and me at writing it because he's not used to doing this unless someone is under compulsion or is Elena.<em>

_And I just had to have that interaction between Damon and Jeremy. And if I'm honest, this better be something that S3 addresses pretty quickly because I can see Damon apologizing to Jeremy for what happened, even if it wasn't intentional. I've really grown to like Jer's character and I won't be happy if there aren't any consequences or resolutions because of what happened._

_Anyways, just hope you enjoyed this and look forward to reading the next chapter :)_

_Ave x_


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